Power Ministry directs CEA to quantify domestic coal amount for power plants

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Power on May 29, 2022 has directed Electricity Authority of India (CEA) to determine the eligible amount of domestic coal for the power plants using coal under Shakti B policy taking into account 10% imported coal for blending which is equivalent to about 15% of domestic coal in energy terms. 

Shakti B is the window for power plants having untied capacity to bid for coal, to generate power using this coal and sell it in the exchange under Day Ahead Market (DAM) or the DEEP portal for short term PPA.

For such plants, Ministry has directed CEA to compute the quantity of coal consumed (procured under SHAKTI B (viii) (a) window) on the basis of mandatory blending of 10% by weight for generation during the period starting from 15th June 2022 upto 31st March 2023. This will give a window of about 3 weeks for these plants to procure imported coal.

Considering the increased demand of electricity, and coal supplies from domestic coal companies not matching with the consumption of coal, Power Ministry advised all Gencos including IPPs on April 28, 2022 to blend 10% of imported coal for power generation. This was done to supplement domestic coal supply.